Sandals La Toc

My Fiance and are set on going to St. Lucia for our honeymoon. We have looked at a lot of resorts and think that La Toc will be the best for us. Can’t decide on the room type though! We are concidering the 2 Story Bulter Villa in the Sunset Bluff sections. Being its somewhat expensive I just want to explore all options! Is the butler really worth it? Also is the private pool worth it? THey have other rooms that just have an ocean view with balcony in sunset bluff and rooms with a butler in the Piton section. Any suggestions on which to chose?

If the Sunset Ocean Bluff room fits your budget, I’d go for it! That whole area of the resort is almost like a separate little exclusive resort inside the main property. Amazing views, high up on the cliif, private pool, and I think preferable over the “village-feel” to the rest of LaToc

Butler service is an amazing experience, but you’re kind of got to “psyche” yourself up for it. It can be uncomfortable at first to have someone waiting on you hand and foot (at least for me it is!) If you’re used to doing things yourself, you might feel a little strange that all you have to do is pick up a phone and request something. I would feel a little bad about asking him for things, and had to remind myself several times that this is his job! Once you get comfortable and start allowing the butler to handle things you’ll really get the full experience. It’s the type of thing that maybe you wouldn’t do for a yearly beach trip, but for your honeymoon – absolutely! I think you’ve just got to remember that your butler isn’t a mind reader, and you do need to ask if you want something.

@HoneymooningGal: Thanks for the reply! I am one to do things on my own so it will probably be awkward at first but I think we are going to do the 2 Story Butler Villa with private pool! The one bedroom suite with private pool is the one we wanted but is sold out! We are thinking about going for 10 days. I’ve read reviews where people say 7 is more than enough. Is there a lot to do there? We will probably go on excursions a couple of days.

I stayed at La Toc back in August 2012. Most amazing vacation ever! We actually did get cheapest room possible. We had zero problems making reservations, zero problems reserving chairs at the pool, etc. To be honest, we didn’t spend much time in the room, so it didn’t pay for us to have the upgraded option. We chose to spend the money on excursions instead. You must do the Joe Knows Tour!! I repeat you must do the Joe Knows Tour! 🙂 Plus, the more expensive rooms are up the hill, which means that most times you have to take the bus down to and from the pool and restraurants. But, the 24/7 room service and the mini bar in the room are nice. Regardless of which way you go, you will have the time of your life. St. Lucia is beautiful and the people are super nice!

If you have specific questions, please fill free to PM me and ask. I love talking up St. Lucia 🙂

@CatieMack: Great choice! There is tons to do on St.Lucia. You could easily spend a day each visiting the other two sandals properties on the island – St.Lucian Grande and Halcyon with their Stay at 1, Play at 3 program. It’s fun to visit the market area where the cruise ships come in that is near downtown Castries. Probably my favorite activity was taking a tall ship cruise down the coast. You visit Soufriere, the drive-in volcano and mud baths, stop to go snorkeling, and of course partake in the rum punch on board! 🙂 It’s a replica ship of the Brig Unicorn used in the Pirates of the Carribean. And if you’re really adventure you can climb one of the Pitons. It’s a full day adventure and you’re guided by a local guide (our girl was crazy in shape!). Amazing views! I actually lived in St.Lucia for a semester during college for a teaching internship, so let me know if you’ve got any other specific questions about the island and things to do!

@HoneymooningGal: Thanks!! What room did you have there? Thinking about the 2 story but some reviews say they are not that private since your neighbors can look over to your patio. Have you seen the one bedroom with private pool also?

CatieMack FI and I were having the same discussion about our honeymoon (Sandals Antigua) we decided to go with the butler service because they will take care of everything. You don’t want to have to wake up early to reserve your spot on the beach and make sure you get a chair by the pool, he will do this. Thye even pack coolers for you for the day to take with you to the beach. Also, they can make reservations for the restaurants, in my opinion I think it is worth the extra expense especially on your honeymoon wheny ou jsut want to relax!

I stayed at the Sandals Grande last June, and we considered the butler rooms, but ended up going with the concierge level rooms. We ended up being happy with the concierge level b/c we still had 24 hour room service…so food/drink-wise, we got what we wanted when we wanted it. As far as booking excursions and making dinner reservations, the conceirge service did that too. We realized that we wouldn’t have really used the butler for anything! So if La Toc has the concierge level, that is what I would recommend.

@CatieMack: My butler experience was at the Sandals in Jamaica Whitehouse, but while at LaToc we stayed in the Emerald Oceanview Walkout room. So I’m not sure about the privacy issue you were talking about. But I will say I think you’ll find it much more romantic and “honeymoon-ish” in the 2story visllas on the hill. In the lower part of the resort when you’re by the pool you never know what type of “scene” of people it’s going to be for your week, and not quite as private. I talked to a few people in the villas that said you hear alot of “nature sounds” in their rooms at night, which I think would be great compared to listening to music/people! Here’s a pic of the 2 story villas at night.